BTW here's a couple of pics of the first police-spec Aussie-Caprice I've seen "in the wild", specifically at a training conference in San Diego:

This El Cajon PD unit is the first one I've seen personally, though I had seen a news clip a while back featuring a small school district police department that had one. Unfortunately between the other things I wanted to see on demo day, and my need to get back to class on time, I didn't have time to ask the ECPD officer how he liked the car nor get a chance to sit inside it.

One of the LAPD officers I was in that class with told me that his agency had ordered a bunch of these. CHP though is going with the Explorer-based Police Interceptor, although they have many of the previous generation Charger.

My department was one of many that stockpiled the last production year of the CVPI, so we will be issuing "brand new" 2011 CVPI's until probably 2014 or 2015.

I've liked some of the "fish car out of water" episodes they've done in the past, like hauling manure in Texas with small $2,000 2-door cars, or trying to drive across the Continental Divide in minivans. But this one with small cars in the Louisiana swamp was pretty silly. The "race" around New Orleans was clearly staged. The stuff with the hunters in the swamp was lame. The tug-of-war with an airboat was pointless. The only parts of the episode that were enterning were Rutledge driving with crawdads crawling around in his car, and then Rutledge driving that tiny car around his town, including inside the supermarket.

Watching the beginning of that video reminds me that in the first two episodes this season, we haven't seen them doing any segments in the airplane hanger, nor have we had the "Big Star in a Small Car" race segment. Are they getting rid of both of those aspects of the show?

Watching the beginning of that video reminds me that in the first two episodes this season, we haven't seen them doing any segments in the airplane hanger, nor have we had the "Big Star in a Small Car" race segment. Are they getting rid of both of those aspects of the show?

Likely, especially with Big Star/Small Car. These aspects of the UK version just didn't click when translated into "American."

I just watched the episode about "misunderstood" cars. It was pretty lame.

Tanner's Merkur XR4Ti did look really good on the outside, but the interior definitely showed its age. That repaint looked like it cost more than the car was worth. The Subaru SVX and the Cadillac Allante looked every bit their age though, inside and out.

And considering how their car sales episode in Season 1 was easily the most boring episode in the series, why oh why did they think being car salesmen was going to work this time?

The BMW "10" series double-decker race was copied exactly from the UK version, which has been done twice before: once against the German equivalent of Top Gear including Sabina "Queen of the Nurburging" Schmidt, and once against Top Gear's Australian version in which the steering cars were mounted upside down.

You say that like it's a bad thing. It's a great concept for a race. I just wish they would have shown it in proper order. One of the 7s had a crumpled hood, then a straight hood, then a crumpled hood, but they never shows what happened to cause the crumpling.

Yeah the frames are definitely out of order. The one with the crumpled hood rear-ended the other, that's how it got the crumpled hood. But in some frames afterward, the hood has mysteriously fixed itself.

The race itself is a great concept...the UK guys did a great job of it twice. But the US version made it lame.

RonDawg, why do you watch US Top Gear, just wait for the UK version in 2013. It seems like watching just bothers you, even scenes that are copied from UK bother you. I say enjoy the show on its on merits or don't watch. I would much rather watch TG US than IRT of Gold rush something or other. How many shows are based on cars? I will agree that TG US is not great or world class, at least it is not about cup cakes or wedding dresses.

As I have also said before, go back and watch UK TG season 1 and you will see how bad that was. Of course the UK guys have some chemistry they will be on Season 18 in 2013!

Not a TG USA lover, but did the pole compare season one USA to Season 17 TG UK? Not a fair fight in my book. Go get UK season 1 and see how bad that was, and see how far TG UK has come.

TG UK is one of my top 5 TV shows of all time, that does not mean I have to find everything else on TV lame. I will admit having the same name does beg for comparison, but compare season one to season one etc..

I can see the first season being rough. If you look at the previous season threads, you'll see I was a lot more forgiving. But they're up to Season 4 now, and I'm starting to lose hope that they'll ever come remotely close to Clarkson/May/Hammond.

Also, it's not like they are doing something totally different. They are taking an existing hit show and copying it, and yet they still manage to make it largely uninteresting.

The chemistry, or lack thereof, is a big reason why it comes out so lame. They should have replaced the hosts a long time ago.

Did anyone watch the "One Tank" episode where they had to drive 700 miles from Portland to San Francisco without filling up with gas? As one who has never watched the UK version of the show, I generally enjoy the US version (nothing to compare it to) and I think the chemistry between the hosts is pretty good, for the most part. But this episode was brutal. It was basically just the three of them driving the whole episode, talking to each other on walkie-talkies. Even the attempts at humor/ribbing seemed contrived, as Tanner/Adam suddenly had a shopping cart full of 400 lbs of kitty litter while at a gas pump, and Rutledge just conveniently stayed in the c-store long enough for them to procure the kitty litter and load it into Rut's trunk without him knowing.

It definitely seems that they've dropped the hangar/studio bits, as well as the Big Star in a Small Car segment.

The only good part was the truck racing the kayak at the end, which was pretty cool.

Did anyone watch the "One Tank" episode where they had to drive 700 miles from Portland to San Francisco without filling up with gas? As one who has never watched the UK version of the show, I generally enjoy the US version (nothing to compare it to) and I think the chemistry between the hosts is pretty good, for the most part. But this episode was brutal. It was basically just the three of them driving the whole episode, talking to each other on walkie-talkies. Even the attempts at humor/ribbing seemed contrived, as Tanner/Adam suddenly had a shopping cart full of 400 lbs of kitty litter while at a gas pump, and Rutledge just conveniently stayed in the c-store long enough for them to procure the kitty litter and load it into Rut's trunk without him knowing.

At the risk of being asked "why do you even bother watching?" I will say this:

1. Yes it is an exact copy of something the UK version did. Specifically, they drove 700 miles from Basel, Switzerland to Blackpool, UK. All 3 of them had diesels though: Jeremy in a Jaguar XJ, Richard in a VW Polo, James in a Subaru Legacy wagon. The only difference is that all of the UK cars were new; I don't know why Rutledge chose a 15 y/o Passat for this challenge, as you can get a 2012 model with a TDi engine.

2. Yes the "gag" of putting excess weight in one of the cars is a copy. Jeremy and Richard put a heavy-duty truck transmission in the back of James' Subaru. James figured it out right away; I find it hard to believe that Rutledge didn't notice his car was suddenly a lot more sluggish, and handled as if there was a lot of weight in the trunk.

3. I do believe both versions were rigged. There was no way Jeremy could have made it in one tank, and I don't believe Adam in his rolling-battering-ram-of-death could have either even with his two-tank bifuel system.

4. The reason I wasn't critical of this episode isn't because it was great (it was not) but the UK version was almost as lame.

Of course Rutledge "didn't notice" the extra weight in his trunk, because that's what the script told him to do. There's no way he stays in the c-store long enough for them to get the kitty litter and load his trunk otherwise. Similarly, Tanner and Adam were conveniently peeing for a very long time when Rut "discovered" the kitty litter and transferred it all into Adam's truck.

Yeah, I think they're doing too many of the scripted goofs. At least in earlier episodes, it seemed like some of them were for real.

Yeah, that's the problem I had with it too. Either I'm more easily able to suspend disbelief with the UK version, or the US version comes across WAY more scripted.... or maybe some combination of the two.

I actually liked most of this week's episode with them going "off-roading" in their "rental cars".

Sure the hang glider Mustang at the end was stupid, but overall a much better episode.

I actually thought flying (non-P51) Mustang was funny. It was a shame to destroy it as it looked like a fairly nice model, but I'm sure the Town Car and especially the Yaris (with its severely bashed in rocker panels) are also fit for the scrap heap after that challenge.

Gleaned from this thread, since I don't watch the US version anymore. I bailed after season 2 showed no improvement from the initial lousy product. Instead of destroying perfectly good cars, why not use that money to invest in better hosts?

I have watched every episode of the UK version and consider it one of my all time favorite series.

Just watched "Monument to Moab" last night. Sure, much of it was scripted, but it was still pretty entertaining to see those cars bounding over big boulders, etc. And I couldn't believe the Mustang bit at the end. The fact that they got it to land wheels up on top of the bouncy castle was freakin' amazing.

Gleaned from this thread, since I don't watch the US version anymore. I bailed after season 2 showed no improvement from the initial lousy product. Instead of destroying perfectly good cars, why not use that money to invest in better hosts?

I have watched every episode of the UK version and consider it one of my all time favorite series.

That was probably the most they have ever spent on vehicles since all the cars were around 5 or so years old. Even then they probably spent $50k max on vehicles, with the Town Car being the biggest expense. I'm sure the hosts are paid far more money than that.

In some ways I prefer this episode to the one in the UK version where they pretend to help with the filming of a movie, and gratuitously destroy two Ford Focus ST's and a new Jag.

I realize this show is heavily scripted, but I enjoyed the Monument to Moab episode. I liked the hang gliding mustang at the end. Just the stupidity of it was what made it funny....These guys have travelled a log distance with almost nothing but what was in their cars, and suddenly, he has a whole hang glider assembly on the car!?!? It was pretty amusing.

I also enjoyed the shot at the end of them washing their rental cars before they "returned" them.... The yaris, then the town car, then the bumper...that was a good shot.

As has been mentioned, sharing the name "Top Gear" oversells this show. If they called it "two idiots and a race car driver destroying cars", then it would be a decent show on it's own. I still enjoy it though. It gives me one more show to offset the multiple cooking shows that my wife watches.

Yeah, that's the problem I had with it too. Either I'm more easily able to suspend disbelief with the UK version, or the US version comes across WAY more scripted.... or maybe some combination of the two.

I meant that I was being successfully fooled/it at least SEEMED that on the U.S. version, the various goofs/races were somewhat more realistic.. yes, I say somewhat.. it sure is "coincidental" that there's always a photo finish and they always get a great shot of one of the vehicles crossing the path of the other vehicle…

Not U.S. vs British version. Heck, it's good that the U.S. version got rid of the celeb segment or at least made it much rarer.